Many organizations allocate selected items of business property to selected recipients according to the needs of the organization and the characteristics of the item and recipient. It is often desirable to allocate these items in response to information provided by a submitter. For example, a submitter might provide information to release products, retire assets, delete inventory, or obtain favorable tax consequences for the organization. The allocation of these items proceeds in accordance with this information.
As organizations become larger and more complex to serve a variety of customer and internal requirements, organizations may broker the allocation of selected items of business property using various techniques. A known technique for brokering the allocation of an item of business property uses manual submission, authorization, and accounting processes that are often relatively slow and labor-intensive. Information communicated by hard copy, facsimile, or telephone in connection with such techniques may be illegible, inaccurate, misdirected, or even lost. In addition, authorization for the allocation may be obtained inadequately, improperly, or not at all. As a result, brokering the allocation of an item may require several days, causing consequent backlogs and undesirable delays. Furthermore, organizations using such techniques may have little flexibility to support customer or internal time and space constraints.